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Guitar virtuoso Steve Kimock and his widely acclaimed new jam dance band featuring Parliament Funkadelic founder Bernie Worrell will be in Grass Valley Saturday to rock the Center for the Arts. With his unconventional style Kimock joins classically trained keyboardist Worrell, also known for his Talking Heads fame, Wally Ingram on drums (Sheryl Crow, David Lindley) and bassist Andy Hess (Gov’t Mule, Black Crowes).

“I like the ensemble chemistry and trust and humor they have. It’s really fun and very powerful, a very happy band, a bunch of guys that walk onto the stage laughing and walk off the stage laughing,” Kimock said.

The band will play original new songs, cover old favorites and showcase work from Kimcock’s extensive 30-year catalog.

A favorite among Lake Tahoe fans, the group’s visit to Grass Valley wraps up an extensive tour of the East and West U.S. Coast and Japan.

Grateful Dead guru Jerry Garcia once hailed Steve Kimock as his favorite unknown guitarist. Kimock’s connection with the Dead goes back to San Francisco during the 1960s psychedelic era. “It was a very small community, and I played well enough that I got noticed. I guess I was an agreeable enough guy most of the time, so I got asked back,” he said.

Kimock grew up in a small steel town in Pennsylvania. He headed out to California after high school, ended up in Marin and soon after met members of the Grateful Dead.

“Phil Lesh picked me up hitchhiking, in the rain.... I said ‘Do you have any advice for a guy in a band?’ And he said, ‘Yes, stick with it. Just keep going,’” Kimock said.

After Garcia’s death in 1995, the Dead’s surviving members invited Kimock to play in offshoot bands such as: Phil Lesh and Friends, the Rhythm Devils and Bob Weir’s RatDog and the Other Ones.

In the mid-1980s, Kimock co-founded the jazz-rock band, Zero, which included former Quicksilver Messenger Service lead guitarist, the late John Cipollina. Kimock has played with everyone from Bruce Hornsby to ex-Zappa sideman Ray White in KVHW, a quartet that evolved into the Steve Kimock Band.

A master of improvisation for nearly four decades, Steve Kimock’s is known for his live performances using acoustic, lap and fretless guitars. Through the years, he’s explored blues, jazz, funk, folk, psychedelic, boogie, gypsy, traditional American and world fusion.

A recently released live recording by Kimock and his newest band features serious grooves, stirring improvisations, heavy funk and tight-as-a-drum rock and roll. Songs include the classic, “One For Brother Mike,” “Thing One,” and a new tune, “Hey Man” as well as covers such as a mash-up version of The Beatles’ “Come Together” and Worrell singing Funkadelic’s “Super Stupid.”